North Shore Park, along the shore of Lake Huron just north of the Port Elgin Harbour, has provided residents and visitors with a distinct passive public park experience on the foreshore of Lake Huron for over 110 years. This beautiful park should not be taken for granted and needs a strong community voice to speak up to insure that it remains a unique, natural place for future generations to enjoy.

BE A PART OF PROTECTING AND PRESERVING AN IRREPLACEABLE SAUGEEN SHORES NATURAL PUBLIC PLACE

Save NORTH SHORE PARK!

“They took all the trees and put them in a tree museum”
Big Yellow Taxi, Joni Mitchell

In June the Saugeen Shores Council,via a 7-2 vote, approved, in principle, that a 226 sq. m. (2,435 sq. ft.) splash pad could be installed along with a number of other site additions and changes in North Shore Park. We believe this decision was made without due consideration of the environmental disruption this would cause to this public natural space and without regard for the historical legacy associated with the creation of this park and the critical social value we place (or should place) on protecting and maintaining urban trees, ecosystems and public passive natural spaces as being vital to the long term sustainability and attractiveness of our community.

If you sign this petition your voice will join others in asking Council to protect and conserve North Shore Park as an irreplaceable natural place in perpetuity. Your voice will join others in asking for a review of historical documents related to this land being gifted for public use and in asking for a detailed Environmental Impact and Archaeological Assessment that considers the impact of any further development on the trees and other vegetation, as well as wildlife, within this park. Your voice will join others in asking Council to consult and inform the public in a meaningful way and consider historical photographs indicating that this space has provided a natural vertical living dimension to the foreshore of Lake Huron from the water line to road and residential developments. Your voice will join others in telling Council that we need to expand and enhance this urban forested space, not reduce and desecrate it.

We do recognize the well-intended civic enthusiasm evident in the work of the Saugeen Shores Splash Pad Fundraising Committee who have been raising funds to contribute to a splash pad recreational opportunity for children in our community. We congratulate this group on the success of family oriented fundraising events and urge them to continue to search for a suitable location other than North Shore Park. Our concern regarding the splash pad is solely based on the location that has been proposed for the installation and not with the value of this type of recreational facility for resident and visiting children.

Background
In 1906 Robert and Annie Munro graciously gifted land for “two dollars” to the Village of Port Elgin for use as a public park. This land became North Shore Park. Research conducted at the Bruce County Museum Archives revealed that pictures dating back 100 years show this land to be a mostly cedar, well-forested, natural public park. This shoreline park is a living “tree museum” for all ages in our community to enjoy, and for generations of visitors, both near and far, who know the peaceful quiet beauty of North Shore Park.

The cedar forest in this park is exceptionally resilient given its vulnerability to not only Mother Nature and Lake Huron but the fragility of it’s roots growing on a thin layer of soil above remnant stone from when the glaciers receded. It is incredibly rare to have an old cedar forest in a municipal park as the few that stand in Southern Ontario are almost all in provincial parks or the protected forests of the UNESCO Niagara Escarpment World Biosphere Reserve contained within the Bruce Peninsula National Park. There are ancient cedar trees, much older than our North Shore cedars, in the protected Reserve forests and there are also thousands of cedars the same age as those we have here. We are indeed lucky to have this kind of living heritage available for public enjoyment right here in Saugeen Shores. We should protect and maintain this gift as a public asset that could (and should) last in perpetuity with a relatively low cost of maintenance for the many benefits it provides us with as a passive natural area within the urban boundaries of Saugeen Shores.

The Urgency to Speak Up for preserving North Shore Park as it is
Please visit North Shore Park. Spend a few moments or much longer realizing what a treasure we have here on the shore. Please encourage your neighbours and friends to enjoy a stroll through our cedar forest. The protection of this place has become urgent and it is important that the community show our support for keeping natural spaces natural. Any further development within North Shore Park would dramatically and permanently impact the landscape as it is now.

To our knowledge, no discussion has occurred that considers the role that North Shore Park, as it is with few solid surface areas, plays in stormwater management and other surface water activities.  There is a stream in this park that flows in the area suggested for the splash pad installation. This stream contains species of local habitat. Beyond the loss of trees and shade we are concerned about the loss of other natural features within North Shore Park.

Furthermore, there has been no meaningful open discussion at a Council meeting to date concerning potential environmental impacts, habitat disruption, parking issues, required maintenance and overnight security for a splash pad installation in a forested location adjacent to large populations of Canada Geese and Heron Gulls or any of the other anticipated changes that would have to be made, or would be desirable to be made, to the surrounding areas of North Shore Park if a splash pad was to be installed here.

Fundamentally, we believe that a project of this nature will absolutely disrupt the interconnectedness of this urban forest system resulting in the permanent loss of wildlife habitat and passive shaded parkland. We don’t see this as good long-term planning for public natural areas within our community generally and North Shore Park’s prominent place on our community’s natural asset list specifically. We don’t see development in this Park as making good economic sense.

The 2013 Saugeen Shores Waterfront Master Plan recommended that “any future modifications, to be effective … must be forward thinking, fiscally and environmentally responsible and community driven”. We are asking the community to join us in speaking up for North Shore Park and it’s legacy cedar forest. We think preserving natural spaces is forward thinking and is the environmentally responsible thing for us to do. Protecting one of the few naturally treed public places within our community should just be accepted as absolutely necessary as the community grows. Will you help us convey this message to Council by signing the petition to protect North Shore Park?

This petition is intended to provide Saugeen Shores Council with a public statement concerning the value the community attaches to preserving and protecting North Shore Park as a natural legacy for future generations to enjoy. This petition tells Council that no further development of North Shore Park should occur without the due diligence of public consultation and agreement of any future development, historical records review, archaeological assessments and an Environmental Impact Assessment. If you agree, please sign your name to protect this incredibly valuable public natural asset.  

Friends of North Shore Park
Paul Knechtel, Southampton
Jody Mahon, Port Elgin
Dave Hornsby, Port Elgin

Please sign this Change.org petition or one of the circulating paper petitions.

Return the circulating paper petitions to one of the Friends of North Shore Park.

Sources

• Bruce County Museum & Cultural Centre
• Saugeen Shores Waterfront Master Plan 2013
• The Corporation of the Town of Saugeen Shores Committee of Whole Minutes, June 13th, 2016
• Aerial map showing outline of proposed splash pad location in North Shore Park, Town of Saugeen Shores

The Petition
We believe it is critical to future generations to have our community today absolutely protect the natural integrity and ecosystem stability of North Shore Park.

 We request that Council review all historical documentation surrounding the creation of North Shore Park and any available photographic or other material showing this landscape over time to insure that the intention of the original gift is appropriately upheld and reflected in any future considerations concerning North Shore Park.

 We request that Council undertake a detailed Environmental Impact Assessment prior to any human initiated tree removal, habitat disruption, excavation or any other construction activity occurring within North Shore Park.

 We request that Council undertake a complete Archaeological Assessment of the lands making up North Shore Park due to it’s proximity to a known archaeologically significant site (Nodwell site) and various other factors in accordance with provincial standards for determining archaeological potential.

We request that Council undertake public engagement and dialogue to provide for open discussion and community comment concerning the short-term and on-going financial requirements as well as the environmental and social consequences of further development within North Shore Park.

 Furthermore, we, the undersigned, petition the Town of Saugeen Shores Council to enact a legacy By-Law protecting and conserving North Shore Park as a natural treed, generally passive, public park asset recognizing its unique heritage cedar forest and ensuring that additional trees and vegetation replace and/or complement the park landscape as needed to maintain and enhance the natural environment here.